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To: Theodore R.
Still, I would like to see the film. The historical advisor to the film claims that it is mostly accurate.

You ought to, as long as you understand it's Disney, it's PG-13, and it's target audience is probably not too familiar with the Alamo and Texas history. I would like to think the DVD/Director's Cut will wipe away the flaws I'm about to complain about, but I doubt it.

They are going to overwhelm you with character flaws (boozing, adultery, etc.) to build up characters as quickly as possible so they can get on with the battles. Yeah, we all know Houston drank, that Travis liked women and left his wife, that Bowie had a mean streak , that Crockett was at times uncomfortable at how big his legend had become, that Juan Seguin was perpetually pissed that he wasn't at the Alamo. We don't need it thrust in our faces though.

Don't get me wrong, I would never claim that every man at the Alamo was a saint, or that David Crockett wasn't brave.

That brings me to David Crockett. They mention Crockett and the Creek Indian War, and the Creeks they killed in the house, but they don't tell you exactly why they killed them (it wasn't because some squaw loosed an arrow into somebody either), or that the Creeks were going to fight to the last man. They mention Crockett got booted out of office and Texas was a second or third chance for him, but don't tell you why he was booted (and why he was booted made him somebody even more worthy of respect in my eyes).

They'll tell you Travis slept around, but not that he supplied the men he brought with him out of his own pocket (that doesn't excuse his adultery before anybody flames me, but it does show just what kind of man he was when it came to fighting for Texas' independence). They did give a glimpse that Travis saw the bigger picture for Texas (which he did indeed).

I think I was most surprised at how well they built the Alamo set, and I was surprised they mentioned Bowie's marriage to Ursula Veramendi and her death, and how important that was to Bowie hanging around San Antonio. I'm kind of a fan of Bowie, and figured something like that wouldn't make it into a movie about the Alamo. I thought him being hell-on-wheels with a knife and killing well over a dozen men with one would be mentioned before his marriage.

As far as Crockett's death...the only agenda was to give the crowd what they wanted. The target audience doesn't want to see Crockett die like Travis. They want Crockett to run out of ammo, start swinging his rifle, and then mock Santa Anna to his face.

Nevermind the fact that just about any Mexican wouldn't be able to tell David Crockett from David Cummings or David Wilson (both of whom died at the Alamo as well).

35 posted on 04/13/2004 1:15:28 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
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To: af_vet_rr
They'll tell you Travis slept around, but not that he supplied the men he brought with him out of his own pocket

Another who financed his troops out of his own funds was the Revolutionary War General George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory. It may be that "Mad" Anthony Wayne did so as well in the Indian Wars of the 1790s.
39 posted on 04/13/2004 2:36:55 PM PDT by Theodore R. (When will they ever learn?)
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